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Just wondering how people deal with the rejection of work in a juried show or perhaps when trying to get a gallery. What do you do to get over the emotions of it? How do you allow your intellect to…Continue

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"I just received an email from you today about Don's passing. I didn't know him, other than through this website. I was so thrilled to find the site and was so happy that he set it up and even when it was apparent that he…"

"Thanks Sharron! This was really an experiment waiting to happen. I used a gessoed masonite. I had not worked much with that before and I felt like my brushes and oil paint were not moving well, so I resorted to doing it entirely…"

"Sherry that is wonderful. One thing I learned from being both a Director of theater and an actor was that when one submits to a casting call, whether or not they accept you is only based on what they need, not what you want, and it's not a…"

"That's right on the money for those willing to live that way, I imagine...dealing with frustrations ("disappointments and defeat in waiting for inspiration") as part of their process. But IMHO personally I beg to differ on the second…"

"I'm reading a book "Writings Schriften" by Agnes Martin who says: "Inspiration is really just the guide to the next thing and may be what we call success of failure. The bad paintings have to be painted and to the artist these…"

Comment Wall (6 comments)

Sherr - About rejection of artwork. I always go and ask for a crit of my work and ask them the reason for the rejection of the work. Any criticism, however negative or positive, will ultimately help me to understand what sort of work the person is really looking for, and maybe where my faults lie. There are times when we know a work we have done is probably one of our best, yet is gets rejected.... There are a whole heap of other artworks that are being considered, and maybe our work falls into the category of being inferior to the others (something we sometimes have to acknowledge), or maybe there are too many of the same sort of painting, there not being enough variety submitted - and the judges have to limit the number of these particular entries or the judges are not into our type of artwork (we cannot force people to like our work, it is ultimately their choice)... there are quite a number of reasons for rejection. We have to be big enough to accept the rejection and make it a positive by going and asking the reason/s. Then we learn the lessons, and move on to better paintings. Constantly worrying about "why was mine rejected" will impact negatively on ourselves and our work. So leave it behind, and move on - easy to say, hard to do, but life goes on, and it will pass us by if we let it get to us. Hope this helps you Sherr. By the way, I can't see any of your paintings, but your profile pic is gorgeous.

Hi Sherr, I am so glad that you understood what I was getting at. I am so happy you went to the art exhibition. You probably learned much from the other paintings and you got an idea of what they were looking for. Next time you will have a better idea of what you need to paint in order to get your paintings selected by those organizers. About your paintings: they are really beautiful and you have your own individual style, and you understand about the play of light. Please write to me on my gmail account and I will tell you what I think just between you and I.... I do not like giving my opinion on open forums like this where others can interact with our conversation. I sent you a friend request and added my email address in the message.

Hi there Sherry, when can we expect to see some of your work... please insert some photographs on your page. Your work is so beautiful. Be proud of your achievements my friend. Looking forward to hearing from you again soon soon.